Better Cities Feb 2019

Resilient and Collaborative Cities

Innovative infrastructure like good drainage and pumps are not enough to fight climate change. Cities must also engage their citizens to create a resilient and robust system, said Johan Verlinde, the program manager of Rotterdam’s Climate Adaptation Plan.

During his recent CLC Lecture, “Living with Water: Lessons from Rotterdam”, Verlinde shared various solutions that the Dutch port city has co-created with its population of some 600,000 to manage the impact of rising sea levels and changing weather. These multi-functional projects include a large water storage facility that doubles as an Olympic rowing track, to water squares that combine public spaces with room for rainwater retention.

“Palava is designed on this principle of 5, 10 and 15, which means that whatever you need every day are all within 5 minutes of your home.”

Amenities within walking distance, homes equipped with smart technologies and a city run by citizen councils. These are pioneering new ideas that the privately-built city of Palava by Lodha Group has conceptualised and built in Mumbai, India.

“We are adding digitization, because even if we have all the smart city infrastructure assets in place, that’s not enough for the future.”

In the battle against climate change, cities must bring together “digitisation experts”, including data scientists, system engineers and software engineers, to test and develop smart solutions that work.

Bike-sharing—a boon or a bane? CLC researchers Zhou Yimin and Xu Yuting argue that too much attention is being placed on parking issues, and too little discussion is made on the benefits of dockless bike-sharing. For a smart city to work, it needs both the government and its people to buy into its value proposition, with a widespread appreciation of both the benefits and the limitations of technology.

Cities around the world are starting to reintroduce agriculture into their communities. In this photo essay, Naufal Khan looks at the ingenuity of urban communities that have used unlikely places in cities to grow food for themselves and to enhance public spaces.

Originating on the streets, Singapore’s colourful hawker food culture has become an iconic part of the city-state’s way of life. Noted hawker food champion KF Seetoh celebrates its origins and argues that more than be done to support Singapore’s hawkers and keep this unique culinary tradition alive.

Singapore’s local cuisine is the outcome of different food traditions intermingling through trade and cultural exchange. As what the world eats becomes increasingly globalised, Lily Kong argues that the best way to keep Singaporean food culture alive is to share it with others abroad.